Can we afford to lose Kanjorski?

I have heard people ask how our area will be effected if we no longer have a Congressman with Mr. Kanjorski's seniority representing us.
Mr Kanjorski is a member of the following Congressional Committees:

Financial Services Committee
Capital Markets Subcommittee
House Committee on Science and Technology
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

Let's look at them one by one.

The Financial Services Committee is primarily geared towards economic development.
He's doing a great job there, just look at all the high-tech/high paying jobs we have here in NEPA.

The Capital Markets Subcommittee has jurisdiction over the securities and exchanges markets.
That must be very reassuring to the folks in the Poconos who lost their homes due to shady lending practices.

The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
I was unable to find a single thing Mr. Kanjorski has done on this committee that made a major improvment in my life, or that of anyone I know.

House Committee on Science and Technology
This committee oversees environmental and U.S. energy policy issues.
Energy policy huh?
Then why am I paying almost 4.00 a gallon for gas?


Right about now Kanjorski's defenders will be jumping in saying "He saved Tobyhanna and the Wilkes-Barre VA Hospital"
No he didn't. He made a lot of noise about it though.
Trust me, if the Department of Defense ever decides to close these facilities, Paul Kanjorski can do handstands in the halls of Congress and they will still be closed.

And I'm not the only person to have doubts about how good of a job Mr. Kanjorski is doing.

According to an article appearing in the Citizens Voice newspaper:

"“Northeast Pennsylvania has gone through a difficult period of restructuring,” said Amy Liu, deputy director of the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C., research group. “It is trying hard to adapt to the new rules of the global economy.”

The study, which assesses the economic assets of Pennsylvania’s metropolitan areas, ranks the region last among the state’s six largest metro areas in gross domestic product per job, a key measure of productivity. The study also includes the Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Lehigh Valley, Lancaster and Harrisburg areas."

Mark Muro, a senior policy analyst with the Brookings Institute, cautioned people in Northeast Pa. not to be fooled by current employment numbers.
"The jobs replacing manufacturing may not be as well paying", said Mr. Muro, who challenged economic developers, the state and community leaders to diversify the job base, foster existing manufacturers and attract higher-end jobs.
“You are shifting from a manufacturing economy and recovering smartly from the first half of the decade. You don’t want to be left with jobs at Wal-Mart, burger flipping and other low-end service work,” he said. “Working people have a reason to be anxious, because Pennsylvania has not diversified its employment. Other states are ahead of you.”



As far as "bringing home the bacon", keep in mind that the biggest single federal grant that Paul Kanjorski ever secured went to a (failed) company run by his family.